NationStates Jolt Archive

Zachius smiled to himself. it had taken three days to cross the river, including the construction and dismantling of bridges. no great disasters ahd befallen his army in the process either, and no enemy seemed to expect him here.

still, he was cautious, and had pickets out. squads of ouhLanseade close enough to give warning, but far enough out to see any threat before it saw the main army.

the kaspian sea was visable off to the left, but they weren't quite marching on it's shores.

Zachius was slightly amazed he had not met any resistance as yet, though he supposed it was fair enough. who would expect the land bound ouhAngermanlandij to cross such a large river, with such a large army, so close to the sea? the Ralish had fortified the gap between the great rivers, but barely even given a nod in the direction of protecting the rest of the border.

perhaps, if they were lucky, they would reach all the way to the borders of the ouhAridirisijz lands... it was unlikely, but oh, such sweet possibility.

Villoni, North Caspian District, Aridiris Province, Alshor

Atal Poim leaned against a fence post reading the day’s reports paying little attention to the elaborate ceremony going on some twenty meters away. The reports were all boring, tedious descriptions of discipline and war games. Diua Ivus had his troops practicing maneuvers almost non-stop since arriving as Upper Commander last week. Being a devotee to the Diro blood cult, Diua was fanatical about form on the battlefield, and when he had arrived in the North Caspian, he was appalled at the lack of precision displayed in basic maneuvers. He ordered constant war games until the art was perfected. Things had drastically improved, but were still below Diua’s standard. Atal finished reading the last report. It was of a man who fell off his horse and died yesterday. A shame, but a lot of good he would have done falling off it battle.
She handed the stack of reports to her page and turned her attention back to the ceremony.
It was goat blood sacrifice to Diro. Three Dirote, Priests of Diro, were holding up golden cups filled with goat’s blood over the heads of the sitting congregation, while seven Dirotel, Priestesses of Diro, were pouring blood from jugs over a wooden statue of the god. Wooden statues of Diro were preferred because they absorbed the blood and eventually rotted. Old rotted statue stumps were considered more sacred. This particular statue was relatively new. A product of the cults revival in recent years.
Atal believed in the religion, but was by no means devout, and she really had no desire to take part in what was going to happen next.
After finishing their incantations, the Dirote began pouring the cups over the heads of the congregation, the highest ranking priest starting with the most eminent person there, Diua Ivus.

“Commander Poim!” a breathless messenger suddenly appeared.
Atal pushed herself off the fence post, “what is it…,” she looked for a mark of rank on the messenger, but found none. She decided to let the sentence hang.

Diua Ivus, caked in dried goat’s blood, was about to mount his horse and head back to his headquarters when Atal rushed over to him, her page leading her horse and the page’s close behind.

“You look agitated Atal,” he said.
“Yes, Ma, and with good reason. I just received a messenger that said a large Angermanland army, of about ten thousand was marching southward along the Caspian towards us.”
“Ten thousand?”
“That was the estimate.”
“And what of Imperial forces?”
“No word from them at all. The Angermanland army is marching unopposed.”
“We need to act then! Any word from the Magra or the General of the North?”
“None yet. Though I expect they’ll be made aware soon, if not already.”
“Well, surely the Magra will be the last to know all the way in Salpo. And we are most likely the first to know considering we’d be the closest to the army.
“I suppose you’re right, Ma.”
“Everyday this army draws here. We have no time to waste! Page, go fetch the head Dirote and have him come to my headquarters.” Diua leapt onto his horse and Atal followed suit onto hers. The page ran off towards the nearby temple.

Diua and Atal rode for thirty minutes to Diua’s headquarters: a small tent-shaped shack just off the imperial riding grounds. Entering the shack, Diua quickly pulled out some official papers, his personal seal and his official military seal and a quill pen. Atal stood at attention just inside the entrance while Diua wrote. He wrote two letters and stamped them each with a different seal. Just as the wax dried on the second seal, the Dirote walked.
“You summoned me, Tema?” the Dirote inquired.
Diua walked over to the both of them with the two letters in each hand. He handed one to Atal and the other to the Dirote. “Atal, have this one sent to the Magra in Salpo.”
“Yessir” Atal responded using a military “sir”, instead of Ma. She was unsure as to what to call Diua with the Dirote here using “Tema”.
“And Dirote, could you have one of your people send this to the Angermanland general. Someone you can trust."
“With pleasure, Tema.” The Dirote understood Diua’s emphasis on the word trust, as did Atal.
The two left the shack leaving Diua by himself to ponder the risk he had taken. What’s done is done, he thought, now to wash off this blood.




The letter send to the General of the Angermanland Army


To the Angermanland General,

I am Diua Ivus Ma, Upper Commander of the North Caspian Raiders, Head of the house of Ivus, rightful Tema of Aridiris.

Word of your advance south into Alshor’s northern territories has reached Aridiris, and if the empire had any credibility you’ll likely be meeting an imperial force soon. It is highly likely that most, if not all, of the Aridiro army will be called up to join this force, including myself.

You may be aware of the situation here in Aridiris, and I have a proposal for you: an alliance between Angermanland and the rightful rulers of Aridiris, the people. The Aridiro strain under the yoke of the Alshorian empire and they yearn to be free. They hate the Alshor, and their native leaders, but they will unite under me, the direct heir to their former King. While your Prince may not care for our plight, a free Aridiris is to his advantage. A free Aridiris can act as a buffer between your borders and the empire’s borders giving Angermanland some breathing room after the war, and hampering the empire’s ability to launch a quick a retaliation. And with its great resources, such a retaliation would not be difficult.

I have established a vast network of families, priests, and military officers loyal to me and prepared to rise up. If you agree to this alliance, we will turn on the imperial army when they are most vulnerable, when they have crossed into Aridiris and gone out to meet you on the field. We can wreck havoc on an army once it has entered our lands.

Please send your reply discretely to the head priest of the Temple of Diro in the town of Vilonni.

(sealed with the royal seal of the Tema of Aridiris)

Again, signal towers set-light to torches. Within hours, Aridiris knew of the crossing. Before the day was out, Alshor too.

But, up here, the Alshorian Rus were a little puzzled. What was the meaning of this?

An elder priest approached the men crossing the river, and, quite simply, asked their identity and mission. Very What is your name? What is your quest? type of stuff. When asked for you favourite colour, blue or yellow would actually be acceptable: this was the Ralish Empire, after all.

Messengers were riding to Aridiris as soon as the signal towers warned of danger. South of this semi-independent state, nobody knew whether the signals had originated in the province or north of it. "What's going on? Are the Alshorian Guard required? What is the state of your men?"

Generally, the Ralish would be prepared to let the enemy advance. Shipping his supplies across a river would only make invasion that much harder. Let him try! Let him chase our armies! He will go hungry and be humilated when we choose to humiliate him, not before.

ooc: i actually Crossed the river prior to this thread.. so that little bit would have happend in the past relative to the threads current point. just so you know.

IC: the supplie issues the Ralish anticipated did not materialise. much of Angermanland's economy was built arround exactly that: the trade of goods up, down, and accross rivers. the river, and their current rough following of the coast, would, and had, actually reduced their supply issues by quite a margine.

Somakyo had been the one to awnser the priest, speaking as she did many languages and having a way with people.

"We are citizens of Angermanland. these lands fall within our rightful borders of ages past, and never left our hands by any agreement, save that the Ralish appeared and built forts, and did not leave. never did we surrender them, never did the Ralish fight for them. now, we take them back and secure them.

that is who we are, and that is what we plan to do. worry not, however, this will not be bad for the citizens. looting will be minimul, sacs and non existant as possible. this is our land, after all, and we wish it useable.

life will, for the most part, continue as useual. some things will get better, some worse, neither by much. there will, as like as not, be less different luxuarys, but a more ready supply of what is still available, for example... Certainly, Angermanland will take a more active role in the defense of this area than the Ralish ever did!

for colours? well, this depends. the proper colour for a healthy land has much in the way of green and gold. for a war band it runs to black, red, and silver. for water, a different green or blue.

each and every part of this world has it's colours, and the faverot colour for a citizen of Angermanland is whatever colour the thing in question is supposed to be.

the people of this land will do well under us, should they cooperate. we have no problem with your religion, though our own knowledge may give you difficulty in spreading it to the masses within our borders. we will not prevent it's practice or raise or loot the temples... but one warning to spread, priest, and it is this:

the yePrinse, the commander of this force, myself, nay, not one soldier or even one camp follower amongst us will tollerate rebellion. we will not force the people if we can help it, but in the event of revolt or rebellion, those involved shall be crushed. utterly. and with no mercy or quater.

of course, it is not rebelious to leave for your homeland. simply wise, if you cannot live under our rule, fair and lose as it is.

go now, and spread this message. the citizens of this land have more to fear from their 'allies' to the south and the empires own armys than they do from us, unless they rebell.

oh... and the General Will know if you spread this falsely. i still dont' know how, be he seems to be far more aware of what is going on around him than any man has a right to be. perhaps the gods show him favour? perhaps not. but it is worth remembering."

this had now taken place some days ago, though reports of it's effects had not yet returned to the army. instead, a messenger from the south had arrived, with a letter for Zachius's eyes, and his eyes alone.

upon reading it, Zachius smiled, then started laughing.

"oh, this is rich. and quite possibly just made our task that much easier."

to one of his messengers, he continued "take a message to each of my commanders, and send a rider for Zenkath if they can find him within the day. there shall be a councle tonight. plans shall be made, and a campagine won before the battles are fought. go!"

as the messenger rode off, Zachius laughed again

"the great fall from within and without, and those who would rule worlds find themselves ruleing only graves.... ahh, 'tis the way of things. what a world. what a world."

The locals were not much concerned by security. Until these people attacked, what security issues had they? These were the only threats! And they waited for men from Aridiris to be dispatched and to bring-about Imperial peace.

The enemy was watched, and messages were smuggled out to Aridiris and beyond, but, as yet, little resistance.

To the west

In Kresh, the Alshorians gathered forces.

And quiet flows the Don.

Men gathered, ahorse. An entire 'horde'. Soon, no natural barriers facing them and Angermanland's main army sent to the east, across the far side of the Don, what could oppose an Imperial advance?

Thousands of soldiers were raised in the Alshorian-loyal Khanate of Crimea, or Kresh as the Alshorians called it. Horsemen started to ride into the Rus lands to the north. Would anyone oppose? Would word reach the forces invading the Ralish Empire?

the defenses along the Angermanland/Ralish Empire border had never been weakend. admitidly, they'd never been hugely strong to start with either.

like any wise leader intending to launch an attack, however, Carmente had made sure of his defenses. the marc lords along the borders were aleart and looking outwards, and had had their forces bolsterd by troops from the other lords in less threatend localitys.

this still only ammounted to regular cavalry patrolls, no more than 5 men in each, keeping an eye on the border, and a couple of hundered extra men in each of the towns.

towns along the border had the traditional construction.. stone corner walls with towers atop them, and the center third of each side of the square walled, leaving gaps just less than a third wide between the sections. within these, there would be a ring of buildings, whatever their useages, with stone walls, and only narrow windows in the sides facing the gaps. they were built right up against each other, leaving no gaps between them, except directly behind the walls, and had flat roofs. the pattern would then be repeated, in and out as nessisary. one could tell how long a town had been inplace by how many layers of buildings there were outside the walls, as well as how prosperous it had become.

garrisons varried in size, but generaly speaking did not excead 500 men, and hardly ever contained Destre. ouhlanseade and ouhalbardade were common, ouhjavalinade less so. most of the citizens could fight to some extent, as much from tradition as from any real need, but weapons were expensive, so few would actually be armed with anything deserving to be called a weapon. still, they would do what they could if it came to a fight.

where there were not towns, there were towers with large gongs, forming a chain the whole way along the border, each with four men to man it. in the event an enemy was sighted, their task was to ring the gong as loud and long as they could. the rest of the time they took shifts keeping a look out. there were weakpoints, of course, but the border towns along the rivers were built, by nessesity, mostly on the possible crossing points, and the patrols were more frequent between the rivers.

this war was doing what it had been designed to. the lords were indeed looking out at what was surely a threat, rather than in at chances to seize power. it was unlikely any one of them would stop a Ralish army, but those in the position to make such pronouncments were of the opinion that the Ralish armys would be bleed dry before they threatend the capital.

evening of the tenth day of the march south, Zachius's camp

Zachius, his commanders, advisors, and chiefs of such mundane things as supply lines and record keeping were meeting at a large outdoor table, surrounded by cloth screens with various heraldry upon them.

they were working by tourchlight, but this was not really a difficulty as there was a tourch set between each man [or woman] and the one next to him, though back a bit so as not to singe anyone.

layed out upon the thable was a map of the area.

"Well" Phencurc grinned "ten days into their territory and not a peep. perhaps they are afraid of us?"

"it is unlikely" Zenkath awnsered, indicating the map "in the west, here, there is something brewing. less and less information is comeing out of that area, it worrys me."

"ahhh, pfft. like as not there is nothing there to report."

"i hope you are right, but i fear it is otherwise."

"humm." Zachius lent on his hand, elbow resting on the table " well, this should make you happy, Zenkath." he pulled the letter from an inner pocket and threw it along the table, it opend as it slid to a halt infront of the spymaster. " a message from one of their would-be key generals. it seems the ouhAridirisij are.. dissatisfied... with the current way of things, and would, for the most part, follow him in revolt, had they a chance of victory."

"this is fortuatous, if it is true"

"oh, i think it is true enough to investigate, if nothing else. your own spys were bringing similar rumors earlyer, were they not?"

"if it is so" Soma Kyo spoke, smileing "If it is so... we should take advantage of it. win these people over... perhaps they will join us as a vassle state, or simply an allie... that'd do, would it not? a friend on the border? then, perhaps, the fortifications could be built in more.. helpful.. places, like where we will actually border the Ralish themselves?"

"oh, i have no doubt you could convince them, Soma.. but there are some other things to take into account."

Pi almost lept out of her seat "what other things matter? we cruse on down there, see what he has to say, do our job on the way as intended... if he joins us, he does, if not, we crush him, sendthe message back, get the defenses set, then come back up as intended. nothing simpler. we could even be back intime for the games!"

"that Would be nice, m'Lady" Phrideric spoke now "but is sadly unlikely. and risky to try. i would suggest instead sending Lady Soma, with some five hundered men of mixed type, to make contact and orginise things, while we swing west earlyer than originaly intended. if they tell the truth, all to the good, they can seccure the last of it. if not, we build the defenses further back, where we do not need to fight them every day we try to build. of course, we would need to go a bit further south first. at Least the old borders, even if we do not take more territory for ourselves. then we could get done with this and be in a position to repel counter attacks from the Ralish in the Krimeaij lands sooner than would otherwise be the case, and perhaps support border defenses if things go south. as well as having allies at our rear, all going to plan. if it Doesn't work, provided the Lady escapes, should they dishoner the Sancity medEnvoy, we are no worse off than otherwise, and perhaps are better off than we might be, as they have to come further to reach us."

" talkative today, arn't we?" Phencurc laughed. "i've never heard you say that much in a go before"

"huh. you've only knowen i even exist for the last month."

"aye, there is that."

Zachius stared at the map for a time, pondering the possiblitys. what would be best.

Pi was doodling something or another on her pad of paper. it still amazed Phencurc that she had such ready access to such an otherwise rare comodity.. but it tended not to be of the uniform quality found in most of what was useually available... he'd asked, but only got some blather about mesh, pulp, and turning something more than once.

as for what Pi was doodling.. well, it was a plan for a weapon to allow a small number of men to fight, at least in an initial charge, as if they were several times their number. really, it was little more than a hand cart with two rows of halebards afixed to a screen over it's front... but it would help fill out a square or defensive line, or add extra impact to a charge, she hopped. she'd test it the next time an opertunity presented it's self.

Zenkath spoke "master Phridericz plan seems sound. i'm unsure as to why i did not think of it myself. the sooner we are done and head west, with a secure southern flank at least, the less likely disaster is to befall this entire escapade."

still, Zachius mearly stared at the map, as if seeing something that wasn't there.

finaly, he spoke. "make preperations. at midnight we seek the council and blessing of the Lady Death.. at dawn, Lady Shineer.. at noon, Lady Vurshin. at dusk, the Lady Mornther. at midnight again, the Lord Time. half way between each we shall seek the council and blessings of the Gods Acidam and Stelni."

his generals and aids looked at him incredulously

"but... why?" Pi finaly broke the scilance "you know as well as any that the Gods do not meddle in our lives sinse the disaster of the tourniment"

"not so. they can, and do, still meddle from time to time. generaly in periods of great change. i belive this is one such.

at worst, nothing will happen, and we can make something up, give the men some confidance. at best... well, who knows, perhaps one of the Gods or goddesses Will respond. "

'if nothing else,' he continued to himself 'it gives me time to think. so many wheels within wheels. oh, what a world we live in.. what a world'

Salpo, South Caspian District, Aridiris Province, Alshor

Clinta Lasl Magra paced in his throne room anxiously awaiting news from the north. Signal tower fires had lit up from the north a few days ago and had run their way down south into Alshor proper, but no word had reached him yet as to the reason. It could only mean invasion, he thought, but by whom and where? Angermanland was the most likely aggressor, but distant marauding barbarian tribes could also have broken into Alshor’s territory. He had always thought the Angermanland Thas were a bunch of raving crackpots, but he’d recently heard rumours to the opposite. Apparently they were highly organized, efficient and in the habit of employing giants in their armies! All rumours had a basis in truth, he thought. He began nervously twisting and pulling his signet ring. Maybe, he tried to rationalise, it was warnings of a plague or something less serious. What other reasons could those signal towers be lit up for? He had no idea.

His ornate chamber doors groaned open and the guard announced,
“A messenger from Diua Ivus, Upper Commander of the North Caspian Raiders!”
The messenger quickly strode through the great doors and dropped to a knee before the Magra, who had moved to stand directly in front of his throne. Surely this messenger had news explaining the signal towers. Diua Ivus would never send him a message unless it was urgent. Anything he had to say he’d say to his next superior.
“News from the north, messenger?” the Magra inquired.
“Yes, my Lord. From Diua Ivus te…” the messenger stopped suddenly. His heart pounded and face went pale.
“Well? What is it?” the Magra had not noticed the messenger’s near treasonous utterance.
“This letter, my Lord,” the messenger held the letter up to the Magra, keeping his head down. The Magra lifted the letter from the messenger’s hands.
“You’re dismissed,”
“Yes, my Lord,” the messenger slowly rose and, keeping his head bowed, shuffled backwards out of the Magra’s chambers The guard closed the doors after him.
The Magra broke the seal and unfolded the letter. It was written in Alshorian cuneiform, the only language permitted for official communiqués, and it smelled of horses



To his Lordship, Clinta Lasl, Magra of North Aridiris,

We have received word from the north that a large Angermanland army of some 15,000 men have crossed into Alshorian lands and are making their way southward along the Caspian.
They are likely to attack Aridiris before an Imperial force can be sent to reinforce us.
I have taken the necessary steps in preparing for war, and am requesting permission to raise troops in my district and have other contingents west of me sent to Villoni.
We are awaiting your orders and those of General Qimen Thunsa.

[sealed with official seal of the Upper Commander of the North Caspian Raiders]



The Magra read over that number again: 15,000. Fifteen thousand soldiers were marching on Aridiris. He slumped onto his throne and hung off it like a dead man. He lay there motionless for several minutes imagining himself fleeing to the south from a burning Salpo, his wife and children in tow, a small dishoveled guard for a protection. Suddenly the image of him dressed as woman attempting to escape among a sea of refugees from an occupied Salpo, taken too quickly for him to act. Oh, the shame!
No! He stood up gripping the letter in a rare moment of decisiveness. He had to act. He had to fight or do whatever was possible to save his position. He had to grant permission to the Upper Commanders to raise armies and send them to reinforce Diua Ivus. Could he trust Diua Ivus and the other commanders with an enlarged army? No, no he didn’t think so. He would order General Qimen Thunsa to raise an army in Salpo and send that old bureaucrat to take command in Villoni. He’d also send to the Magra in the south and Azaria, informing them of the situation and requesting reinforcements, though it might take them too long to arrive.
He called in his scribe and all the orders were written and on their way within the hour. After the scribe had left, he fell back into his throne, and wept.

OOC: realistically, word should reach the south in two weeks, it has to travel through the mountains and across the whole country. Azaria in perhaps four weeks. General Qimen Thunsa will receive word immediately, she’s in the same city, and the Northern Commanders within four or five days. Naturally, not all the troops in the north will be sent to the Caspian area. Small garrisons will be left behind.

Midnight came. all was in readyness, and it was the night of the dark moon, conveniantly.

the soldiers were gathered in concentric rings, ever increasing in size, with a fixed distance between each, and a large alter had been errected in the center. only the outer most ring faced the world at large, and only because they were in hostile lands. all others faced inward, focusing on what was to happen.

the nature of the Angermanlandij religion did not require preasts, even for this most elaborate of rituals. infact, rituals in general were rare and few.

as such, there was something to be said for being present at one. those soldiers watching knew as much, even those who wondered why their commander sought the gods, rather than acting.

Zachius himself, therefore, took a tourch and lit the alter fire. thsi blaze would not go out untill the last ritual the next night was compleated, nor would any man leave his place. food had already been taken, and no more would be eaten untill the task was done. all had water within reach. no point in losing men to something as pathetic as heat stroke.

the fire lit, and Soma passed Zachius the first offering. a plant, still living. holding it above his head and over the fire, he spoke, loud and clear sot hat all could hear him;

"beQMenteQyaQPhasmaQmedouhdeathadejinix,LadyQDeath
beQyehumblelyQaskadejin,ce
akseptadeQcezQgift,Na
hearadeQus,LadyQDeath"

then he dropped the plant into the fire. the same thing was repeated with a bird, though it had it's neck wrung before it was dropped, a rodent, and a fish, which had been caught and kept in a tank for this purpose. large animals were impractical, and humans just wrong in any context but battle or legal punishment for crimes. the Gods understood these things, or so it was hoped.

fortunatly, this was the only part of the ritual which required anything to die.

just before the sun rose, when the light could be seen but the sun it's self could not, the next part of the ritual began.

for Shineer, goddess of things to come, the new, the 'what will be' and the 'what can be' the ritual was simple.

two more fires were lit as the sun rose, and a prayer said all the while. it was thought best that Pi, as an inventor, be responsible for this part.

"beQMenteQyaQPhasmaQmedthingixtur,LadyQShineer
beQyehumblelyQaskadejin,ce
knowadeQcezQpotentual,Na
hearadeQus,LadyQShineer"

near noon, the wisdom of distributing the water before hand was proven. the day was hotter than useual. perhaps even unseasonably so for the area.

Phencurc had the honer of giving the ofering to Lady Vurshin. at noon, every ring raised a flag at each of the 4 points of the compas. one each for the air, the earth, fire and water. and each ring chanted the apropriate poetry for one of the elements as he spoke:

"beQMenteQyaQPhasmaQmedhere-ya-now,LadyQVurshin
beQyehumblelyQaskadejin,ce
pheeladeQcezQbejin,Na
hearadeQus,LadyQVurshin"

dusk then, and the final of the fates: Lady Mornther. Soma conducted this section of the ritual.

the entire assembled army recited the tale of creation, as Soma Kyo, holding in one hand the book of history, and in the other the book of wisdom, said te prayer.

"beQMenteQyaQPhasmaQmed-have-thingixtas,LadyQMornther
beQyehumblelyQaskadejin,ce
seeadeQcezQknowjin,Na
hearadeQus,LadyQMornther"

it was hard on all involved, to some extent, this ritual, as all were awake without food from whatever time they awoke the day before, untill whenever they slept after the final segments of the cerimony the next day, and now, last, came the most energetic part. the part requireing the most mental aleartness.

Zenkath conducted the final part of the ritual at midnight. whilst the outer circle, keeping watch as they were, beat drums to time the rythem, the other men danced specific paterns, as instructed by his hand. it was well that dancing was a common pass time. all the elements of the ritual were well knowen, at least seperatly, as a result, as was the habbit of following instructions drilled into the troops. without these factors it could not possibly have been done on such short notice.

the dance represented that which Lord Time must do to keep reality in it's true path, and showed an apreciation for his work.

"beQMenteQyaQPhasmaQyaQMasterQmedReality,LordQTime
beQyehumblelyQaskadejin,ce
akseptadeQcezQHonner,Na
hearadeQus,LordQTime"

in between each of these sections, all had prayed to the Brothers, the Creator Gods, Acidam and Stelni, asking blessings, wisdom, knowledge, whatever was needed, and offering thanks for what they already had.

the ritual done, the people could finaly sleep, though many ate cold food they had orginised before hand first.

"so" Pi asked her sister as they returned to their quaters "what now?"

"Now we wait. perhaps someone will hear or see something in a dream, perhaps not. tommorow night, once everyone has eaten and slept, we shall hold a councle as useual, like as not, and find out what has been decided. and then we move, or don't, as the case may be."

"humm. i'm not sure if we can aford to wait..."

"neither am i. but these things must be done, sometimes."

Phredric, meanwhile, had set guardsmen to keep lookout. on very short shifts, a mear half hour each at a go. none of them were awake enough to function for longer.

"Zachius, i hope you know what you're doing...."

ooc: medouhdeathadejinix: "of those who are dieing". more angerman for you.
oh, if you're trying to make sence of that, remember that a c represents 'ch' a Q is a word break, and that angerman has no c, q, or f. be prepaired for dream sequences soon *laughs* the gods are about to take an interest.

not that they're going to be messing with battles and Litteraly god moding, of course :p

The Ralish Rus, north of Aridiris

A short, broad man, with skin of roughly Alshorian colour but notably harder surface, and hair every bit as black. A sniff of the air. A complaint. "You can smell it, can't you?"

His comrade didn't give a clear response, since, evidently, he couldn't smell anything out of the ordinary, and didn't want to say so.

"Foreign air, probably foreign dust, too. Riding in behind the barbarians."

Oh. He was one of the minority here who really bought into the Alshorian religion. Even nature was different, outside of the Empire, according to the priests. It wasn't quite... holy. Not blessed and purified by Alshorian conquest and the blue-gold standard of King Ralish. These outsiders really were like a cancer, they were actually introducing foreign bodies into the Empire, and it stood to make the land and the people sick.

Over a week had passed since the Rusticans were reported crossing the river, and nobody had seriously engaged them. The Ralish were mustering to the west, not far north of the border with Aridiris. Let the enemy come, the land had only limited farming, plenty to support the people and allow limited trade, but a bit of a stretch for an influx of 15,000 people, and a large part of agriculture was nomadic herding that quckly got out of the way of the foreigners. Best to let them stretch themselves for a while.

Besides, after more than two hundred hours of trying, the Ralish Rus had gathered a force that was still inferior in most respects.

250 Imperial Guardsmen. 500 mercenaries. 1,250 men-at-arms. 2,500 peasants. 150 horsearchers from Khan Urgardi, a minor local ruler. 4,650 fighting men and a few-hundred followers for a camp around 5,000 strong. This information was sent to Aridiris, reaching the middle of this land by late on day 11 at the earliest. It indicated five-thousand men rallied and gave an approximate location.

The Ralish did not wish to engage without help, and much would depend on Aridiris. Wait a few days for them to commit a large force and engage individually or meet-up first, or wait far longer for reinforcements from Alshor?

The force took care to establish new relay points for messengers so that they could send messages at two or three hundred miles per day, but this required the co-operation of several hundred men from the army and the population, and would be partially disrupted if the army uprooted suddenly. For now, they waited in the west (still east of the Don, of course).



In the east, the invaders must have gone beyond the first -relatively small- defended granaries, light forts defended by not more than a few dozen men but with good arms and massive supplies. These were no direct threat, but handy to the Empire's forces on the move.

ooc: i decided not to do dream sequences or verbal exposition.. so, this is what we get.

IC:
Zachius's camp, the evening of the 12th day since crossing the river

Zachius and his officers sat around the councle tablestill studying the maps and information available to them. no longer concerned with the what, so much as the how.

in the time when the men had slept, almost all reported dreams of victory and glory, though many included heavy casualtys, somtimes including the dreamers themselves.

Each of the officers who had enacted a section of the ritual had dremt as well. beyond that each had seen the god or goddess they had prayed to, as well as the creator gods, each was keeping their own councle reguarding the dreams content.

after a time, Zachius spoke "tommorow, we march. three more days south, then west. we enact Phredric's plan, save that Lady Soma's entire escort shall be ouhlanseadeix and number only two hundered. Lord Zenkath shall send one of his men... by the name of...?" he looked questioningly at Zenkath

"i think perhaps Reling. he has other names, of couse, but that is the relivant one, and all that you need to know for the moment. he will follow orders, and knows the area as well as anyone we might get hold of"

"All right then. Soma, Reling, and two hundered ouhlanseadeix head for the south to meet this would be king and allie. if it goes bad, we need you here more than dead. Anything which damages the Ralish war effort without hurting our own plans is to our advantage, and thus within the scope of your orders. upon compleation of this task you will rejoin the army... here" he indicated a point two days march from the Ralish's heaviest defences in the region "assuming we get there and you do as well. if things go south, return to the capital and report. hopefully it won't come to that. understood?"

Soma stood, and saluted "understood. i shall see to it imideatly, if i may?"

Zachius nodded "go." as she left, he turned to Zenkath "what is the general attitude of the people at this point? are the traders effective? the propaganda?"

ooc: and that's the end of this post. a response awnsering the question there would be nice :)

Villoni, North Caspian District, Aridiris Province, Alshor

“A message has just arrived from the Magra, Ma,”
“Thank you, Atal” Diua Ivus stood to reach across his desk and take the message from Atal.
“Shall I leave you, Ma?”
“Might as well stay. I might have to call you back in a few minutes anyway,” Diua smiled, “have a seat.” As she sat, Diua cut open the oversized seal of the northern Magra with a small dagger and unfolded the letter. He read silently to make sure there was nothing in it he couldn’t tell Atal, then read it aloud in its entirety.



To Diua Ivus, Upper Commander of the North Caspian Raiders,

You are hearby granted permission to raise troops in the North Caspian District and I have sent orders to the two Upper Commanders west of you to also raise troops and then dispatch to Villoni. Both Upper Commanders are senior to you, so I expect them to take control of the forces when they arrive. I have also ordered troops to be raised in Salpo under General Qimen Thunsa. She will leave for Villoni as soon as she is ready.

[sealed with the official of the Magra of the North Clinta Lasl]



Diua chuckled. Atal smiled. It was inconceivable that the Magra wouldn’t permit the raising of troops, so they had already sent messages to the Upper Commanders in the west regarding the situation. Preparations were well under way for raising some one hundred men and women in Villoni and no doubt the other two northern districts would raise similar amounts. What was funny, though, was the Magra deliberately spelling out expectations that should be obvious. That is, the most senior Upper Commander taking control of the operation. The Magra was attempting to curb any power Diua might have with an enlarged army and making it quite clear how little he trusted him. Of course, the Upper Commanders, being allies of Diua and monarchists, would never take command over their rightful king; the Magra had no power here.

“So, we have approximately a week until, I’d imagine, General Thunsa arrives,” said Diua.
“Maybe more than that.”
“We’ll see. No word from the temple yet?”
“None, Ma.”
“My biggest worry is not if the alliance goes through, but if it fails and others discover my attempts.”
“Or if the alliance succeeds but others discover it too early, no?”
“That too.”
“And what of word that Angermanland employs giants?”
“Ha! Surely you don’t believe that! Just a bunch of farmers’ and merchants’ rumours.”
“Well, it has some soldiers a little jittery. And the peasants, well, some of them are starting to flee south.”
“Hmm… the peasants we can’t stop. Tell the troops that a giant has no grace and that a dead ones spills more blood,” Diua paused, “and, that their commander scoffs at giants.”
“Their Tema scoffs at giants!”
Diua gave a dismissive laugh, “at your discretion, Atal.”

The Eastern Ralish Rus

The people... so far, the invaders had marched beyond less than twenty thousand subjects and only three families of citizens. This was the Empire's second least developed region (ignoring a few areas of sandy desert in the extreme south, crossed only by nomadic traders and totally unlivable), but was less unhappy about it than were the Pyrennians. Here, a permanent house was amazing, and the people all retreated to protect their own property. If the invaders had decided to fight rather than march by, they'd have won easily, as everyone defended selfishly, not strategically. Only the self-contained granaries were exceptions, and all these were on the main roadway. If this easy passage were avoided, nobody resisted.

So far, people were continuing to live virtually as normal. If the enemy army approached, the temples hid the best of their wealth. If it stopped there, they tried to dazzle its men with shows that seemed to them pure magic, and to swear that this land was against them. If they moved on, the temples would send runners to contact riders to relay messages in relay to update the army here and in Aridiris and in Azaria. If the temples were attacked, there'd be a fight, and no mistake.

Until someone tried to kill anybody, loot anything, or enforce any new laws, nothing really happened. A foreign army passing through? So long as it does not rape and pillage we are okay: either way it shall be crushed!

That's how most people thought. As yet, there was no reason to think otherwise.

Up here, the people cared more for the Empire than the Empire cared for the people. It meant, if nothing else, a flawed intelligence network, for Azaria spent little on keeping watch this far north, outside of Kresh.

ooc: i hope the timeing in this isn't too messed up.

15 days after the river was crossed

the Angerman army, passing the temples now and then, was impressed by them, true. but they also, mostly, saw them for what they were. steam power was not an unknowen concept to them.. though much as in the Ralish empire, it was worthless for anything more than toys as yet. some of the schollars thought it might be used to drive machinery, but no one had yet figured out how to build a steam drive powerful enough to do so that was strong enough to withstand it's own power. tricks with gearing and water and leavers... for those from the university towns, these were common place, and generaly put to more useful tasks. water and wind mills driving sawmills and flourmills, as well as occasional more exotic and frivoulous devices, such as the occasional merry go round, were also not unknowen.

so, while they occasionaly wondered over exactly How the priests pulled their assorted tricks, they were well aware that tricks were all they were.

after the ritual preformed earlyer, on this same land that was claimed to be against them, not many put much stock in that idea either. no harm had as yet befallen them. no earthquakes or devistating plagues.

Soma and her escort, infact, did not even bother stopping when they saw temples or priests or pesants. the only thing that would bring them up short was an army they could not avoid, at this point.

by the time the main army turned west, the small group sent to meet with Diua Ivus, (Tema of Aridiris by right, often by name, and hopefully soon in fact) was a mear half day away from what was nominaly the Aridiris border.

surely someone had noticed them by now?

Soma called a halt "we rest here. if nothing happens tomorrow, we shall send messengers and scouts." 'and pray this is not a trap' the last part, only a thought.

when the main army turned west, their supply lines would start becomeing more vulnerable. an alliance here would make seccuring those much easier as well as making trouble for any reinforcements that might come.

having ridden light and at speed, they had not brought witht hem the equipment or materials for building forts. with so many horses, however, it was simple enough to make the camp relitivly safe. one third of the men would be out at any one time during the night. watching the horses, keeping an eye out for spys, sabatours, or sneak attacks. they would work in twenty two groups of three, as three mounted men were harder to sneak up on than one, and it allowed them to be most places at once.

'and now we wait for this... tema.'

A stray chicken grazed quietly on the plain just outside of the northeast Aridiris border completely oblivious to the peril it was in. Sitting on his horse several yards away was Letsi Vita, bow drawn and ready to strike. The chicken had likely escaped from one of the many abandoned farms along the border. In anticipation of the impending invasion, almost all civilians in the area had fled south leaving Letsi and a handful of Alshor scouts and Aridiro border sentries between the Angermanland army and Aridiris. Far off in the distance another Aridiro sentry could be seen atop his horse, but aside from that it was only Letsi and the chicken.
Letsi was the furthest north of the border sentries and technically outside of the border. Diua Ivus had moved all sentries north several miles the day before, putting most of them outside the border, to get a few hours extra warning should the Angermanland army come. Because of this, Letsi had none of the usual provisions provided on the border, mainly a tower, and was essentially just standing there in a field. His job was perhaps the most important being likely the first one to spot a coming army if the scouts didn’t pick it up first. But an army could be seen miles ahead and heard even further. He was not worried about diverting himself briefly in the name of food.
The faint rubble of galloping horses stretched across the plain breaking the silence. Letsi looked up. A small cloud of dust was making itself visible to the north. It would be hardly worth noticing if not for the sound preceding it. There was more than one horse, he could tell, but not much more. Two or three. He listened harder. Two. He’d bet his supper on it. They were coming fast too, but not fast enough to save the chicken.

------------------------------------------------------
Two men on horseback slowed to a trot as they approached Letsi. It was about midday and the unseasonable heat was beating down on the three. Several yards away, a chicken was happily grazing.
One man was an Alshor scout, the other Letsi couldn’t recognize. The Alshor scout spoke first, in the Alshorian language,
“This is a messenger from the Angermanland army. A force of two hundred has been sent to meet with Diua Ivus.”
Letsi could barely understand Alshor, but he got the gist of it, “Diua Ivus… south in Villoni… four hours,” he said in broken Alshor.
“Diua Ivus is not an Imperial Representative though,” he snapped at Letsi, annoyed by his poor Alshor, “don’t you think they should meet with someone of higher rank?”
Letsi looked confused. The scout repeated himself slowly. Letsi nodded, “ummm… Diua Ivus high… err… highest… this,” he waved his hands towards the south, “lands.”
The scout turned to the Angermanland messenger, “I’m sorry this buffoon can’t speak Alshor. Probably can’t speak his own language.” The messenger smiled; Letsi sneered. “Really,” the scout continued, “Ivus has no authority to speak for Aridiris, let alone the empire.”
“That’s quite alright,” the messenger responded, “we know Ivus is the best we can do. That's why we asked for him.”
“Right, you can go back to your superiors and tell them a meeting will be arranged somewhere on this field," the scout turned to Letsi and spoke slowly, "I am... going... Villoni... deliver... the message... Ivus."
“Oh… kay... ass…hole…,” Letsi replied in Telic, the Aridiro language.

------------------------------------------------------
The sun was almost set turning the sky various shades of purple. The chicken was still living and further away now heading south. Letsi had spared it, not wanting it to spoil in the day’s heat. He’d planned to kill it at dusk, which was now, but he no longer had the time. His relief had never come, but was likely coming with the small contingent of Aridiro horses now coming from the south. A force of about one hundred fifty had rode from Villoni and taken position just within Letsi’s sight. Fifty of them had broken off and were marching towards him. He couldn’t tell, but no doubt the Tema was among them.
Night was approaching, and Letsi wondered if they’d thought to bring torches.

the sun had just dipped below the horizen as the ouhAngermanlandij rode up. they did have tourches, but good night vision was one thing which had become an almost universal racial trait amongst what had to be one of the most geneticly mixed nations in the world. oh, sure, the Ralish had More races, but they didn't mix so much, most of the time. or so it was said. as a result, the tourches stayed packed away untill such time as they were needed. better to be able to see further, than to see well for only a few feet.

Soma looked around the field. actually, it was hard to tell where it ended, as it was unfenced and relitivly unmarked. noting the disposition of the ouhAridirisij, she nodded.

"Reling, you and 75 of the ouhlansade are with me. the rest of you, stay back unless you see those men over there advancing. advance no faster than they do unless they break into a charge or fire a bow. if that happens, all bets are off.

you, and you!" she indicated the first two men who caught her eye " one of you carry the yePrinsez flag, the other the truce flag, Reling, you take Lord Zachius's army flag, and i shall, of course, carry my own.

one rank foward, then the flags, then the rest of you. form." she waited untill they were orginized "and.. March!"

the detachment of ouhlanseade trotted forward, lances held upright so the points glittered gently in the light of moon and stars. also so they didn't accidently stab their fellows or stick in the ground, but that's not quite so poetic, is it?. not so easy to see was that each lance also had a small banner near it's tip. red and black and silver-white.

as they approached the Aridiris lead element, Reling called out in the Aridiris tounge "the Lady-Aktjin-jeneral Soma Kyo, on behalf of Kommander Zachius, who does act on behalf of the yePrinse Carmente, ruler of Angermanland and the ouhAngermanlandij, would speak to Tema Diua Ivus."

The detachment of fifty Aridiro cavalry came to a stop several yards away from the Angermanland group. In contrast to their counterpart's colours and displays of heraldic insignia, the Aridiro flew only one colour and no heraldry. Each soldier had attached to his or her armour a long pole with a short burgundy flag on the end. This was standard all across Aridiris with an entire army sporting a single block of colour. The colour chosen was usually a shade of red. In battle the poles would bob with the horses' movements and the flags would whip in the wind adding to the harmony and grace which the Aridiro so loved in battle.

Diua Ivus stood in the front centre of the group flanked by his two bodyguards. Atal Poim stood behind him.

A man from the Angermanland envoy called out, amazingly in Telic, "the Lady-Aktjin-jeneral Soma Kyo, on behalf of Kommander Zachius, who does act on behalf of the yePrinse Carmente, ruler of Angermanland and the ouhAngermanlandij, would speak to Tema Diua Ivus."

Diua cringed at the usage of his title and a few murmurs behind him indicated others recognized the significance too. At the very least, he thought, he knew these people are here in reaction to his alliance proposal. Previously he had not known what he was in for coming out here. He'd never expected such formality to his supposedly secret dealings. Fortunately, he had chosen his most loyal men and women to come up with him in this group of fifty. They all weren't informed completely as to what was going on, but they could be trusted.

Looking at the man who spoke in Telic, he recognized him as the merchant Reling he'd met at a bar a month ago. He chuckled quietly to himself. Giants indeed!

He looked over at the only man he'd found that could speak the Angermanland language, and nodded. Unfamiliar with formalities as the Aridiro were, the man called across the field trying to replicate the style used by Reling,

"Diua Ivus, Upper Commander of the North Caspian Raiders, on behalf of...," he stopped. Who was he there one behalf of? Certainly not the Magra or the King Ralish! He started again, "on behalf of the people of Aridiris, Tema by the blood of Diro, accepts Lady-Aktjin-jeneral Soma Kyo's offer to speak." Every Aridiro within earshot cheered.

Diua cringed again. It was now out of control.

Offering one of the two non-battle and non-religious ceremonial rituals in Aridiro military culture, Diua trotted forward, turned his horse to the side, drew his gaba, a traditional scimitar-like sword, and tossed it to the side facing away from the Angermanland group and towards his own men: the Aridiro sign of peaceful intentions with somewhat universally recognized symbolism.

Soma almost laughed at the reply. impromptue formalitys all 'round, it seemed.

" well, we know they're the right people, anyway. Raling, behind and to the left by a half length length. flagbearers behind on each side of me by one length. the yePrinsez flag on the right. front rank, part!"

as the front rank of horsemen trotted smoothly to the sides, and Soma and her flagbearers trotted forwards. as the soldiers had already replaced lances with flags, and their maces were attached by cords to their braces, they could not very well return the Tema's gesture in kind. Raling didn't even carry a weapon.

Soma, however, was carrying the standard infantry blades as secondary weapons as well as her flag. allowing her horse to move forward a bit faster, she stabbed the flagstaff's spiked butt into the ground so it stood on it's own, then turned the horse so it went a little way off to the left, swung it around, and sent it not-quite-galloping back accross the other way. the flag bearers had followed her accross, but stopped when she gave a signal before she'd turned the second time.

standing up in the stirups, and then on the sadle as horse passed infront of the Aridiris, she drew her blades, jumped, flipped, twisted in the air, and threw them back towards her own lines... at an angle. she really didn't want to hit her own men.

the result was that she landed on her feet facing the Aridiris, with her horse returning to rejoin the soldiers behinde her, her blades stuck in the ground behind and to either side of her pointed towards the ouhAngermanlandij troops.

as the flagbeareres returned, she stepped forward a little and saluted in the Angermanlandij fasion.

"the wonders of invetend formalitys and rituals, no? still, it would appear you are who i was sent to speak with, and that i am the one who was sent to speak with you on behalf of the one you wished to speak with. wich, come to think of it, is a lot of ones. then there's interpreters, unless you wish to speak the imperial tounge, as i don't speak yours, sadly... so that's some more ones. anyway.

speak, Tema Diua, what is it you want of us?"

Diua was impressed by Soma’s display of acrobatics, as was much of the Aridiro behind him, though he was conflicted on whether this represented a graceful dismount or a showy dismount. The former would garner her some respect within the Aridiris military tradition, the later would be ignored as another example of how strange foreigners could be. But such analysis would have to wait.

Dismounting was not customary among the Aridiro when military leaders met, but since this was the first meeting of opposing military leaders in Aridiris in several centuries, Diua was hardly aware of this. Getting off of one’s horse, however, was a sign of severely reducing one’s power, still remembered in Aridiris tradition, and he recognized this gesture from Soma as even more important than her disarming. As such, he followed suit and dismounted and took a few steps forward.

He spoke in the Alshor’s language,

“My people hardly care for formalities. But we do try our best to accommodate the sentimentalities of guests. Being ruled by the Ralish, we unfortunately, have more than enough experience. I am a little surprised that we’d meet like this, with armies in an open field. But no matter.

The imperial tongue will do. We seem to be both fluent in it. Funny how we are both enemies of the empire and yet are speaking their language.

I think you know what I want: an alliance between your army and my supporters within the Aridiris army. This would be mutually beneficial, but more beneficial to you, I think. You will essentially gain the help of over half the Aridiris army in the north working against the empire on the inside. In exchange, all we want is for you to respect the borders of Aridiris and recognize our independence. Not a large price considering you are already at war with the Ralish.”

Diua stopped to allow to Soma to reply.

"indeed. it is entertaining. very well, imperial it is.

ahh. we have formalitys, but they are few. mostly rendered irrelivant by the heraldric system, actually. the anouncement was mostly so that you'd know who we were rather than deciding we were a threat and attacking, for example. not official standard practice.

as for respecting your borders.. it is easy enough. we did not intend to go so far south unless we needed to. honestly, we expected far more resistance than we've encountered. it's ... creapy. an alliance with you works to our advantage, though, true. our spymaster worrys about the west, and our general does too. thus, these two Sotnakix of troops and i come to meet you, while the main army turns west to see what is going on.

otherwise, you truely Would have had an army on your borders, and we would be negotiationg with whoever it is who currently ocucpies your rightful place to ensure he stayed quiet.

of course, we may well have been aiding you then, as well.

truely though, this 'army' of mine is but a small fraction of our light cavalry.. a tenth or less. Zachius and Zenkath feared possible traps and ambushes, and did not wish to lose me, but still needed the men for other tasks.

for once i can say this as more than just an acceptance of fate: the Gods willed it so.

ahh, i ramble again. at any rate, i, and by extention the general, and by extetnion the yePrinse himself, can sign such an agreement easily.

i worry, however, that you may not be able to hold off any potentual Ralish reinforcements with mearly half of your nation's small army. you Are very close to their capital, and will have to deal with the other half of your own army as well."

"Don't worry about our abilities to fend of the Ralish. As you can see from the lack of resistance you've encounter, the Ralish care little for this territory. They will fight as a point of pride, but I doubt their enthusiam will last. And half the Aridiris army doesn't tell the whole story. The people will follow me, as will the common soldier. Their leaders are, as we say here, riding without horses.

We are willing to commit to a hard fight at home, and we don't expect you to concern yourself with it. Though any help would be welcomed."

"sadly, for the moment, we can't help untill we secure this territory. once we establish the new borders in the west, however, we may well be able to send aid of one sort or another.

i must admit, this does change our plans a little. the original idea was to build a great wall along the southern border, as quickly as possible.

now, i'm not sure exactly what will be done. certainly, however, the wall will likely be delayed at least as long as you tie up any enemy troops, and if you Win, and can then hold your southern border, may well never be built at all.

the west, however, is another story. but with the lesser borders this allows, we'll be able to build the walls there as well. or instead. whichever.

and, it now occurs to me, that we shall have access to the Middle Sea, by way of the black. or we would, if the Ralish did not sit accross it.

ahh, the world changes, my friend, great forces gather and clash... "

Soma grined and cocked her head slightly "'tis interesting, no?"

"Interesting indeed, we live in interesting times. It seems that everything is coming down on the empire at once.

As for the west, the Aridiris army will likely be called to meet up with the Alshor there, if we haven't already. I believe that that time would be the most prudent to enact our agreement.

But do we have an agreement?"

More than two weeks after the Rusticans had first violated Ralish territory, the army raised against them was yet to join battle or receive reinforcement. But, its commanders were now in posession of information indicating an enemy smaller than previously feared, and, concerned about the possibility of unchallenged barbarian pressure causing anti-Imperial unrest in Aridiris, it was decided to seek battle, or at least to confront the invader more directly.

The Ralish began to march east, just a few miles north of the border with Aridiris, the commanders taking something of a chance in allowing Aridirans to see that they were moving, hoping that it would do something for moral. In their own territory, the Ralish had little in the way of a supply train, and were moving close to twenty miles in a day, on average and allowing for days of reltive rest. The Guardsmen felt as if they were daudling, and the peasants and others were very hardy people, so, for now, managed well enough. Actually they were glad to be moving, wanting to get things over and done with and then return home. They'd stayed so long in one place that a minor disease outbreak had threatened at one point, and two men had died while others spent the last days before the march resting and recovering from less serious bouts.

Far to the west, the Khans of Kresh (Crimea) were beginning to launch raids against positions along the Angermanland frontier, and others in the south of the peninsula were riding north to join more penetrating assaults.

And, south of Aridiris, in the heartland of the Empire, the Alshorian Guard was starting to send detachments from far and wide as word spread, to rally near the border. In coming days, the Tudkahali would also be raising more men.

(Angermanland, regarding the raids in the west, I don't think that I'll bother RPing them specifically, if you don't mind. Just know that the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples of the region are causing more bother than they have for years, and feel free to RP things about it if you want. I won't get involved much unless you launch a fresh offensive towards Kresh. Mostly it's just small bands of men riding in, attacking an outpost or pillaging a farm or village, and then riding out again.)

"an agreement.. we leave you alone, and help you if and when we can, and in exchange you leave us alone, and keep the Ralish off as best you can? indeed we do.

draw up the paperwork, i shall sign it.

in the short term.. can these men" Soma indicated the ouhlanseade behind her "and myself be of any assistance? or shall we return to lord Zachius as soon as the documents are signed? of course, a few would have to return as messengers reguardless.. but what are five men from two hundered?" she shrugged, smileing.

"Your offer is greatly appreciated, but we still need to maintain a low profile and having two hundred of your men wandering around here without shooting arrows at them would look suspicious. I hate to pass up the opportunity, but it would be more dangerous right now than helpful.

We will have the chance to work together in the near future I suspect."

"Scribe!" Diua called back to his men, in Telic, "bring up some papers."
"Yes, Tema," the scribe called back.
"And disarm and dismount," he added having forgotten the delicacy of the situation during the conversation.

The scribe jogged up to the two and took down the conditions of the agreement dictated by Diua, made another copy and handed it to Diua, who stamped them both with his royal signet.

"It's in Alshor," Diua said handing the two documents to Soma, "all is in order I believe."

"best each copy it into our own languages and destroy the originals.. last thing you want is the empire getting hold of this some how. possibly better still if you code and encrypt it as well. though... the copys wouldn't have the signitures unless we do it now.. ahh, i suppose it doesn't matter for us. you're low profile will go out the window if it is found though."

Soma read over the doccuments, just to make sure there were no errors, then took a brush and a mettle bottle of ink [which had a lid which could only be removed if turned so the hinge lined up and then a small catch was lifted] signed them.
first in the imperial tounge the rest of the document was writen in: 'Lady Soma Kyo, representing Kapitan Zachius Lejor, who does himselph represent the yePrinse Carmente, who is the kurrent personiphikation oph the Prinsipality oph Angermanland at the time oph the signing oph this dokument'
she then dated it, and repeated the process in Angerman.

"if that is all, Tema, we shall take our leave. any army of footmen may be slower than such a small unit of cavalry as i have here, but never the less they have had a more direct path to the meeting point, so the sooner we leave, the sooner we reach them."

"That is all I believe. It's been a pleasure Lady Kyo," Diua placed the signed documents into his shirt pocket, bowed slightly, turned and mounted his horse.
"Scribe," he said in Telic, "my sword please."
"I hope we meet again," he then said addressing Soma, "Farewell."
And with that he rode back to his men reaching to grab his sword from the scribe on the way.

Soma nodded, retreaved her blades, horse, and flag, then rejoind her party, which rejoined the larger unit.

"come! we return to the army. perhaps, by the time we arrive, these imperial morons will have actually got orginized enough to fight, or realised they are doomed and given up! onward!"

she raised her arm, then chopped it forward and down, and the whole group of horsemen took off at a reasonable clip. they'd slow to a better travel speed after a while, but it was best not to linger.

meanwhile, the main army had made it half way towards the western coast and the point where, baring oposition, they would turn north and head back for the fortified areas of crimea[sp]

Just north of the Aridiris border

The Rus Imperial army, modest next to the forces assembled near Osteia and Okolor, was not long in approaching its desired location, after having finally begun to march not long before the enemy -though this could not be known, exactly- began to march west.

There would be a bit more waiting. Cassir Tehkadze, son of a citizen and a khan's daughter (Urgardi's aunt), was still of the belief that more men would eventually arrive from Alshor and Aridiris, and, for now, he should just protect a point of potential significance and await word. If none were received within a few more days or weeks, he could easily send more messengers across the border, and could then think about moving once again. His army was just about small enough to stay, so long as the khans continued to bring supplies as their clans wandered back and forth, and the locals supplied a little produce.

The Cassir -that was a lofty title shared by members of the Imperial upper-class, giving military and political significance to its bearer- put his men on the west bank of the Kuban, not far from its bend to the west as it came out of the uplands. A small reinforced granary lay there close to the only local imperial bridge (any others would be inside Aridiris, if they exist at all) on the north-south stretch. In fact, parts of the granary were on each side, and Tehkadze dispatched part of his force across the bridge to guard both ends and be ready to empty the granary on the east should the enemy be sighted by his few mounted patrols.

If he'd known that Aridiris was not the safe right flank he assumed, and that the enemy was already swinging towards him, the Cassir probably would have made more efforts towards fortification and possibly even raising a few more peasants, militia, and clansmen, and sent much more urgent messages to Kresh [Crimea], but, for now, the men rested after a couple of days fast marching, feeling fairly safe next to an ally and upon a river.

Villoni, North District, Aridiris Province, Alshor


General Qimen Thunsa sat in Diua Ivus’ military headquarters in Villoni reading over some reports. Duia’s headquarters had been converted into hers upon her arrival in Villoni. She arrived shortly after the other upper commanders in the north had arrived, and had taken command of the now combined armies of the northern raiders and the Salpo garrison, and was now preparing to move west to meet up with the imperial army and take on the Angermanland threat. The northern raiders had almost doubled their numbers from recruitment and gone from only 600 to 1,000. The Salpo garrison had similarly increased and now numbered 600 putting the combined army at 1,600 fighting men and women on horseback. Small but surely a welcome addition for the empire.
She read over the first report, which she had received via messenger from Diua only a day before arriving. It read:


An Angermanland envoy came to the border today demanding to speak to an imperial representative. As there was none present, I spoke with them. They demanded our surrender. Of course, I refused and have returned to Villoni and am preparing for battle.

Upon receiving this message she had hastened to Villoni with her 600, but when she arrived the invaders had left and a second report was being prepared, which she now had in her hand.
It read:

The Angermanland army has turned west, likely to meet with the imperial force which has formed there. We are preparing to follow them, but will wait for your arrival.


Qimen thought over the course of events. Nothing seemed immediately strange, but there was one lingering question. Why had the Angermanland army suddenly turned west leaving almost 1,000 hostile forces behind them? It would have been far more prudent to destroy the Aridiris army first, as they could have easily done, and then shift west to meet the Alshor: simple divide and conquer. Now she was left in a perfect situation. An eerily perfect situation.


The next day, just before dawn.

The Aridiris army was buzzing and ready to move out at the crack of dawn. General Thunsa addressed her assembled commanders.
“Commanders,” she said, “our plan is simple. Idiotically simple. Angermanland has turned west to the meet the Alshor, as you know, leaving us behind them. At dawn we will march west and follow parallel south-east of the enemy. When they do battle with the empire, we will come in behind them creating a basic pincer with the imperial forces. Surprise is important, but there is little time left anyway. If the enemy turns back to us, the Alshor will likely be at their backs. Their situation is hopeless.
“We must be cautious though, and keep our distance. All of you but upper commander Ivus will come with the main group. Ivus, you will follow behind the enemy more closely, raiding their supply trains and harassing their scouts. Basically providing distractions. Understood?”

“Yes, General!” Diua responded.

At dawn the Aridiris forces were on the move, west along the Aridiris border, with Diua’s force moving north-west to get right behind Angermanland and in their supply trains. Messengers were sent along the message routs established by the empire to inform the imperial forces that the Angermanland army was moving west and that they were coming to join them, but not alluding to any plans. Angermanland was known for its spies and as a security precaution only the officers knew of their movements and messages were kept simple.
Diua was now in a compromising position. He had to stay close to the “enemy” and report fake raids to the general, all the while maintaining enough loyalty in the Aridiris army to cleanly pull of the mutiny. The general might have been acting out of mistrust or distain, wanting to keep all military recognition from Diua by relegating him to supply train raider; either way, there he was, again with the worst job.

Krimea, assorted army supplie depos etc

Zenkath may have been marching with the army, but his agents were still active. Very active. not being technicly under Zachius's command, he had gone 'above and beyond' when it came to what he had ordered done.

outside the territory that was to be assimilated into the Prinsipality, his spys were running riot. when ever possible supply trains were held up. either by 'random' highwaymen, accidents, corrupted officials [there were one or two of those, though they were very far removed from the network proper] almost-but-not-quite-suspicious fires in various depos, many of which did nothing at all as they were noticed and put out, but some of which went wild and took out large stocks of supplies and the like.

still, since he had given the orders to begin this plan, Zenkath had been unable to get any messeges in or out. within the basic parimiters of 'hamper the Ralish army in any way possible' they were essentually running wild.

this ment that most of those who simply observed and passed information on were less than useless, as they also had to carry on their day to day work, often Aiding the Ralish. meny of them were not so far turned that they would have conducted acts of active sabotage and the like anyway.

on the other end of the spectrum, the subotures were so active that it was inevitable some of them would get caught, doing in large chunks of the network. fortunatly, as was standard and intelligent practice, the network was overlapping and fragmentory. at least ten different threads reported direcetly to Zenkath himself, which ment one getting caught would not stop the others.

however, it also prevented them from coordinating properly, as Zenkath could not control it.

one enterprising group leader decided to poisen the troops food rather than simply destroying it. more complex, more risky, but a bigger pay off and if he did it right he might get somewhere within the House. or so he thought.

infact, there was enough disruption that the edges of it were feeding right back into the lower end of Hera's network, and it concerned her greatly.

it was not like Zenkath at all to lose control of his network, nor to be so brazen in acts of sabotage.